TV rights: Amazon acquires Wednesday's top Champions League fixture in Italy (€80m/year, press)

The American e-commerce group Amazon has acquired the rights to broadcast the Wednesday night Champions League top fixture in Italy for an estimated €80m per season over the 2021-2024 cycle, according to Italian media on 14/10/2020.

A new round of bidding is planned for the other lots (Tuesday night best fixture and all other matches) on which the pay-TV operator Sky Italia, the OTT platform DAZN and the free-TV group Mediaset are bidding.

These bids must be submitted before 15/10/2020. Sky Italia currently holds the rights to the competition, for the 2018-2021 cycle, for an estimated €260m per season. Sky Italia sub-licensed the rights for one fixture per matchday to the public broadcasting group RAI (in 2018-19) and then to Mediaset (2019-2021).

Italy is the fourth European country where Amazon has acquired sports broadcasting rights after the United Kingdom (Premier League, US Open, ATP and WTA tournaments), France (Roland Garros, evening matches) and Germany (Champions League, Tuesday night top fixture).